This disclosure relates generally to presentation of content by an online system, and more specifically to allowing an online system user to modify characteristics used by the online system to select content for presentation to the user.
An online system allows users to connect to and to communicate with other users of the online system. Users create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Content items are presented to various users by the online system to encourage users to interact with the online system.
But as the amount of content provided by the online system increases, users may be presented with an increasing amount of content in which the users have little interest. To provide users with content more likely to be relevant, content items may be associated with targeting criteria specifying characteristics of users eligible to be presented with the content item. This limits presentation of a content item to users having characteristics satisfying the targeting criteria. However, a conventional online system provides a user with limited ability to regulate use of its characteristics by the online system in selecting content for the user.